Top 10 Audio Editing Software

1. Amadeus Pro

A digital audio editor is a computer application for audio editing, i.e. manipulating digital audio. Digital audio editors are the main software component of a digital audio workstation. Amadeus Pro is a moderately priced audio editing program that has Mac OS X compatability, multi-track support and amplitude envelope editing capabilities, but doesn’t have Windows compatability, loop editing featues or virtual software instruments built in. Here’s how HairerSoft, the developer of Amadeus Pro, describes their product: Amadeus Pro is a powerful multitrack audio editor supporting a variety of formats including MP3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, Apple Lossless, AIFF, Wave and many others. Click on one of the thumbnails below to see a larger version of it.

2. Traverso DAW

Traverso DAW is a cross-platform multitrack audio recording and audio editing suite with support for CD mastering and non-linear processing. It is Free Software, licensed under the GNU General Public License. Traverso offers a unique user interface using both the mouse and the keyboard together for precision and speed. Designed for scalability, Traverso DAW can be used by live musicians using a netbook.

3. Audacity

Audacity is a free software, cross-platform digital audio editor and recording application. It is available for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and BSD. Audacity was created by Dominic Mazzoni while he was a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University. Mazzoni now works at Google, but is still the main developer and maintainer of Audacity, with help from many others around the world.

4. WavePad

WavePad audio editing software is a full featured professional audio and music editor for Windows and Mac. It lets you record and edit music, voice and other audio recordings. When editing audio files you can cut, copy and paste parts of recordings then add effects like echo, amplification and noise reduction. WavePad works as a wav or mp3 editor but it also supports a number of other file formats including vox, gsm, wma, real audio, au, aif, flac, ogg and more. WavePad is designed to be a very easy and intuitive to use audio editing package. Within minutes you will be able to open or record a file and edit it. If you take time to explore the other features you will find many powerful tools designed with the professional sound engineer in mind.

5. GoldWave

GoldWave is a popular commercial digital audio editing software product developed by GoldWave Inc, first released to the public in April 1993. It is used in dozens of schools and universities around the world and is mentioned in numerous research papers covering a wide variety of topics, including neuropsychology, bioacoustic signals, seismic analysis, and engine and animal identification.

6. Ardour

Ardour is a digital audio workstation. You can use it to record, edit and mix multi-track audio. You can produce your own CDs, mix video soundtracks, or just experiment with new ideas about music and sound. Ardour capabilities include: multichannel recording, non-destructive editing with unlimited undo/redo, full automation support, a powerful mixer, unlimited tracks/busses/plugins, timecode synchronization, and hardware control from surfaces like the Mackie Control Universal. If you’ve been looking for a tool similar to ProTools, Nuendo, Pyramix, or Sequoia, you might have found it.

8. SoX

SoX is a free audio editing program that has Windows compatability and Mac OS X compatability, but doesn’t have multi-track support, amplitude envelope editing capabilities, loop editing featues or virtual software instruments built in. Here’s how Sound eXchange, the developer of SoX, describes their product: SoX is a cross-platform (Windows, Linux, MacOS X, etc.) command line utility that can convert various formats of computer audio files in to other formats. It can also apply various effects to these sound files, and, as an added bonus, SoX can play and record audio files on most platforms.

9. Soundbooth

Adobe Soundbooth was a digital audio editor by Adobe Systems Incorporated for Mac OS X, Windows Vista and 7. Adobe has described it as being “in the spirit of SoundEdit 16 and Cool Edit 2000″. Adobe also has a more powerful program called Adobe Audition, which replaced Soundbooth as of Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Production Premium. Soundbooth, discontinued in 2011, was aimed at creative professionals who do not specialize in audio or people who need a simple editing program and do not require the full features of Adobe Audition. Due to Intel-specific code, Adobe has stated that the Mac OS X version will only be available for machines using Intel processors. Soundbooth CS4 was the first version to support 64-bit officially.

10. Peak Express

Peak Express is an inexpensive audio editing program that has Mac OS X compatability, but doesn’t have Windows compatability, multi-track support, amplitude envelope editing capabilities, loop editing featues or virtual software instruments built in. Here’s how BIAS, the developer of Peak Express, describes their product: Want to turn good recordings into great recordings? With our optional Peak Express software, you can WiFi-transfer iProRecorder files from your iPhone to your Mac in seconds and then edit them to perfection. Just like a word processor for your audio, you can use Peak Express to remove unwanted portions (including all those “ums” and “uhs”). Or you can re-order entire passages perfect for preparing a podcast or editing a report.